Const. Bernard Covic demoted for false traffic warnings

Constable gets 7-month reprimand which comes with a $9,600 pay cut

An Ottawa police officer who falsified four traffic warnings has been demoted for seven months.

Const. Bernard Covic was ordered to be demoted to secondclass constable for seven months Friday at the culmination of his police disciplinary hearing. The demotion, set to go into effect Monday, will see the officer take a more than $9,600 pay cut.

Covic pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct and insubordination under the Police Services Act at the beginning of the month for secretly issuing four warnings to two separate drivers for infractions they didn’t commit. Police believe the practice was widespread among some ticketing officers.

Covic was the first officer to be charged in a force-wide probe for what officers called “phantom tickets” or “ghost warnings” that has now seen two officers suspended and nine others reassigned to desk duties.

A second officer has since been charged with deceit, insubordination and discreditable conduct since Covic pleaded guilty, but that second officer has yet to make his first disciplinary appearance. Covic and the second charged officer were both among the reassigned group. Neither suspended officer has yet been charged.

Covic was identified by internal investigators after police began an audit of provincial offence notice warnings issued by Ottawa cops. The force discovered what appeared to be a systemic effort to bolster individual officer statistics by issuing fake warnings to motorists. The audit was prompted after a stack of undelivered warnings, issued by an officer who has since been suspended, was found.

The prosecution argued that Covic’s misconduct was not a momentary lapse in judgment or an isolated incident.

He conducted two traffic stops — one on Jan. 18, 2015, and another on June 6, 2015 — and issued five warnings, but only one was based on evidence.

Internal investigators also found that between January and October of 2015, Covic issued 26 motor vehicle-related charges in addition to the four warnings and that no notes were made for any of those charges or warnings.

While hearing officer Supt. Uday Jaswal found that Covic was unlikely to repeat the behaviour, he also said that a message needed to be sent to all other Ottawa police officers.

“The honesty and integrity of police officers is fundamental to their public safety mandate and the intentional misrepresentation of facts cannot be accepted under any circumstances,” Jaswal wrote in his decision. “It is therefore critical that a clear message be sent to all police officers that failure in this basic requirement of their profession is not acceptable, will not be tolerated and will be subject to strong disciplinary measures.”

Covic has been an officer since 2007. He has no previous record of discipline.